Aug. 10, 2005
Notre Dame tennis stars Catrina Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) and Christian Thompson (Las Vegas, Nev./Bishop Gorman H.S.) will not have the opportunity to compete for a gold medal against some of the top young players in the world, as a last-minute change of plans has seen the United States Tennis Association (USTA) withdraw all of its entrants from the World University Games, which begin tennis action on Friday in Izmir, Turkey.
The USTA announced last month an eight-player roster consisting of two singles players and a doubles team for men’s and women’s competition. It would have been the first U.S. team to compete in the World University Games since 1997. Lori McNeil, who was a standout at Oklahoma State before a professional career that saw her climb to as high as #4 in the world in doubles (plus #9 in singles), was the coach of the U.S. women’s team. Slated to represent the U.S. in women’s singles were two-time NCAA singles champion Amber Liu of Stanford and Florida’s Jennifer Magley.
The World University Games, first contested in 1923, are a multi-sport competition held every two years and open to competitors ages 17 to 28 who are or have been a student at a university within the year prior to competition.
Four other Notre Dame student-athletes will participate in the World University Games. Megan Duffy, who will be a senior on the Irish women’s basketball team, is the starting point guard and a captain of Team USA, which opened play with a 24-point victory over the Czech Republic on Wednesday. Duffy scored a team-high 14 points in that game. A pair of Irish fencers, rising junior Amy Orlando and 2005 graduate Kerry Walton, comprise half of the epeeists that will compete for the U.S. Sophomore-to-be Jannica Tjeder will compete for Finland in women’s football before returning to campus to help the Irish defend their 2004 NCAA soccer championship.